Well, I think it was a good day for Women's WC SL skiing. Things are looking tighter!
I am presuming that MS is not pleased, but not all worked up, over being beaten by Peter Vlhova. That seems to be a plan fr the year. To enjoy it. One thing is clear to me. The days of 3 second winning margins are probably long, long gone. Petra Vhlova is fit, tall, strong and she skis really well. I absolutely believe the talk that her coaches have modeled her SL skiing after MS {which I presume is not unique}. Wendy H had a good day, and a really fast second run. She also is great with her knees ankles, and movement. All three women keep the skis on the snow, and don't "grind" them much.
The hill is not a tough one, and the second run set was a "gift." This is probably going to be good learning opportunity for MS, 2017-2018. The field has made great gains. I hear different things about her training this fall. I know that she puts in more on snow volume than anybody. I hear that she has, relatively speaking, trained more GS and SG which would mean less SL. I presume no SG for some time.
Swede is right, MS's "bobble" was at the top of the steep. She was faster than Petra on the top flat, and on the bottom flat. She was not as clean and as "quick" as she can be on the steep, particularly after that. Meanwhile, Petra skied it better than anybody. Looking just like a clean MS run to me.
At any rate, it looks like we might have a nice SL "race" this season. I still think that when MS is at her very best, on a tough hill, she still smokes the rest. What I'm interested to see is how her sports psychologist {as she says, her "mental coach"} plays into this. No doubt she was wrapped very tight last year. People were talking about how miserable she looked....often. And it was normally race day observations, before she skied. No smiling, not looking confident. Etc. BUT, then again, she sure as heck skied well.
So we'll see how this piece works. Way to early to tell at all. I've seen sports psychologists in the sport work really well. REALLY well for some athletes and no so well for others. All depends on the relationship, IMO, and on what they are specifically working on. I've seen some situations where it did not work that well. It's not my field, so I'm just thinking about the results that I have seen. I'm hoping that this helps MS, makes her less anxious and maybe more calmly confident, but doesn't change her competitive edge at all.
We all know that she has, yet again, a chance to make history, by being the first American to medal in four events at these Olympics. I'm hoping that there is not too much pressure building there. I'd still rather see her maintain her SL, and get her GS a bit more consistent and faster before making SG a regular part of the program. That last piece is really hard. Schedule wise as such as anything.
This is probably heresy on a board like this, but getting herself to the top of the heap in GS is not that simple. There are a lot of good women GS skiers on the circuit. MS is a thinker, and her skiing is not totally "natural". She does not have the natural touch that you might think she does. She is not the best athlete in that group. So, there may be a LOT on her plate. Keep the SL pedal down in the face of more competitors. Work hard to make gains in GS consistency and speed. Become a threat in SG....All while being calmer, less anxious, etc. That sounds like a lot to me.
Season is so early. There was some good skiing today. I agree that if that second run set had been a bit "harder", we might have seen a different result. It wasn't and we didn't. All good. Some good skiers had tough days. Some young skiers had really good ones. Melanie Meillard, the Swiss 19 year old, was 5th. Melanie is really one watch. Keep an eye on her.
Re the other North Americans, Resi had the kind of day we sort of expect, and that she was not happy with. 4.15 seconds out in 21st. Megan McJames was 48th in the first run.
Among the Canadians, Mitch Gagnon was 10th. Erin Mielzynski was 27th. For those NCAA fans, UVM's Laurence St-Germain skied to 17th from bib 47. Pretty neat stuff. Perhaps we won't see her skiing so much for the Cats.
It's a LONG season. Looking forward to Killington.